Banker cleared of assault on sleeping wedding guest

An investment banker has been cleared of sexually assaulting a fellow wedding guest after she had fallen asleep.

Ed Sappin, 39, had been accused of targeting the woman at a party at the bride’s flat after the ceremony.

She claimed that when she had woken up she had found him kissing her intimately so she screamed and neighbours called police. But three weeks after the opening of the trial at Blackfriars crown court Judge Ian Karsten QC ordered that not guilty verdict be entered on all charges.

Sappin, a married father of one from New York, was a director at BP and is now chief executive of The Willowbrook Company, which focuses on renewable energy. He had denied sexual assault. The alleged victim had travelled from the US for a friend’s wedding in Hampstead last October.

After the reception the bride offered guests the keys to her flat to continue the party. Prosecutor Peter Nugent said: “They arrived at around midnight. Later as she [the victim] was extremely tired Mr Sappin lifted her up from the sofa and ushered her into the bedroom. Her next recollection is of lying on her side in the bed with Mr Sappin lying behind her.”

The alleged victim then felt him pressing against her and found she no longer had any underwear on.

She later told police: “He started kissing me. I think that is when I snapped and thought ‘oh my God’. I ran out of the bedroom into the living room and I just started screaming.” The woman admitted she had “definitely been drinking” but denied being so inebriated that she could not control her faculties.

Outside court Sappin’s lawyer, Robert Brown said: “The acquittal confirms our consistent position that the charges were without merit.”